Welcome! I look forward to our continued connection as we contribute to raising our world to a higher level of consciousness as we grow in health and happiness.

I created this site in 2011 when I was a Contributing Thought Leader in the best-selling book,The Art and Science of Successwith Matt Morris, author of the Unemployed Millionaire.In the 2014 best-selling anthology,Pathways to Vibrant Health and Well-Being,compiled by Sue Urda and Kathy Fyler,I wrote about overcoming Stage 4 uterine and lung cancer in less than four months applying a miraculous 15 step change in my lifestyle. (Click on the Pathways title above to get your copy of the 15 steps at www.live-itup.com. The photo at right with me holding a bouquet of life-saving kale was taken six months following my recovery).

Now, I'm delighted to introduce you to my memoir, Loving to beWE,a real-life fairy-tale, full of mountainous obstacles and incredible blessings. We use our middle names in the book, so we're Lanee and Alex.

Here we are in real-life as Empress Cheri and Jah B, (right) at the Round Hill Resort, near Montego Bay, Jamaica, where segments of the 1996 movie, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, was filmed. I jokingly claim to be Stella's sister as my memoir also details a life-changing encounter in Jamaica, but then takes us on a very different journey, now going on 24 years.

Special Offer

Let's trade - I'll send you the manuscript of my book, FREE, if you'll write a review ready to post online the day the book is published as an ebook--I'll send you an email, when it's time, in a month or so. Then you'll be entered into a drawing for a free 3-night stay (for 2) at our Topaz Dream Palace, and 1/2 price for up to eight more of your guests (value $260, via AirBnB.com click on Vacation above for details).

Just send your name, email address, and any comments you wish to add -- to cheri@cheriaveryblack.com.​Put Special Offer in the subject line.

\​An Overview of My Memoir

Then click on Archives above, and pull down to 'Buy Books'​

Loving to be WE

Receiving Mountains as Stepping StonesTo Cross the Cultural DivideBetween Jamaica and the U.S./'Babylon'

This deeply heartwarming love story radiates from the life-changing encounter of two souls. Despite being from different parts of the world with sometimes conflicting cultural norms, they quickly recognize they are meant to be together. And then the troubles begin.

Mountainous obstacles keep blocking their path. Dire predictions from sabotaging friends and a frightening illness intervene. The visa process is stopped dead by a U.S. government shutdown—not once but twice! Is the universe creating these barriers as a warning? Or are these tests to strengthen their resolve?

Alex, a young father in rural Jamaica, is struggling to lift two small sons out of poverty. Once, in the depths of despair, he has a dream that gives him hope. Dare he believe that a woman from a’ foreign is coming to rescue them?

Lanee is an accomplished professional in Philadelphia, enjoying her friends, managing her businesses, and traveling the world. In her early 30’s, while recovering from a confusing divorce, she envisions she is to have ‘a bed and breakfast near the beaches in Jamaica.’ Even though she suspects it is just a wistful dream, she nurtures it for 15 years. Why not yearn for year-round warm weather and soothing ocean waters?

These dual dreams drift randomly in the ether until, suddenly, they mysteriously attract and converge, bringing the two souls face to face. Is fate facilitating love or manipulating false hopes? It is up to Alex and Lanee to decide. Against the odds, they risk their familiar lives, commit to each other, and remain faithful to the inner voices of their true selves. The “mountains” are re-imagined as “stepping stones,” but not without great difficulty. They are human, after all. Ultimately, the reward is an enriching immersion inlivity—a Rastafari concept of One Love--or flowing in harmony with Jah’s life force.

Passion glows from between the covers of this book,asone of its many themes, along with Jamaican rhythms, the law of attraction, cultural contrasts, racism and prejudice, a Rasta way of being, and the inter-connectedness of our destinies.Among the motivations for sharing this riveting memoir were the successes of How Stella Got Her Groove Back, the acclaimed book and movie of the late 1990’s, which also dramatized an unlikely romance sparked by an encounter in Jamaica. Jokingly proclaiming to be Stella’s sister, this author reveals the intimate details of an amazing Jamaican Journeythat she and her Rasta husband have navigated for 23 years.This story may read like a fairy tale, but it is as real as life gets.

Type in a key word to find it in this website.

Welcome to the Topaz Dream Palace​(Click onVacationlink on top of site for more detail)The Dream started in 1979 when some friends were talking about ‘what we really wanted to do when we retired.’ Without prior thought, I stated, “I’m going to have a ‘bed and breakfast’ near a beach of Jamaica!” Hmm, sounded good; I tucked it away for later. In 1994 I went to Jamaica to find the ‘bed and breakfast’. Instead I ‘found’ a man whom I soon knew was to become my beloved husband.

​And now Jah B, with the help of our talented family, has completed building our Dream Guest Home on a Montego Bay mountaintop! There’s more to this amazing story – I’d love to tell the rest while you’re sitting on our veranda enjoying our world renowned Blue Mountain coffee, fresh spring water, sour sop nectar or tea, Ting, coconut water with lime, Red Stripe beer or Rum Cream. The color of our guest home is one shade of topaz (our birth stones) which is meant to inspire our guests to take delight in the world as you journey on the path of self-realization. Come to the Topaz Dream Palace where you as Queens and Kings of the Universe simply experience Irie, the joy of life...One Love, One Heart.